I'm sure the idea of working with an editor on your baby is
a bit daunting. You don't want to hand your precious art to someone and let
them rip it apart with their jagged teeth. But don't worry, it's not that bad.
I promise.
I'll give you a little insight into how I work, maybe that
will put you at ease.
The First Read Through
Once your manuscript has passed through acquisitions and is
finally assigned to me, I'll take it on my e-reader and do a complete read
through for the overall concept, getting a taste. I'll write notes as I go and
then pass on a letter to you. During this read, I'm contemplating character
arc, timeline and pacing, and the big picture. I like to gnaw on the thing as a
whole before I start to digest. We'll delve into the little stuff later.The Second Edit
This time around, after I've received your updates from the
first read through, I'll go through with a fine tooth comb and rip to
shreds…sorry, I mean carefully fine tune your work. This means I look at the
arc in each scene as well as spelling and grammar mistakes as I go. This is
when it gets bloody. We might need to cut a character or change who they are. I
particularly enjoy when I get to delete line after line after…I'm sorry, where
was I?
The Final Read
This third time, after we have carefully polished your
manuscript, I'm pretty much just checking the changes you made after the second
edit. Then I'll send it off to copy editing, who will proofread it. See? Not
that bad after all. *licks blood from her fingers*
This blog post was originally posted on my publisher's blog, WiDo Publishing. Go check out the other stuff we are posting there!
